Those frugal folks over at Cheap Chic Weddings have announced this year's winner of the Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest. These creations defy the imagination. The winners get to be permanently displayed at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.

On one of my recent Fun Friday posts, we poked fun at the times when we receive far too much information in response to a simple question. Today, I want to focus on a more serious aspect. I've recently become the owner of an iPhone. It all started when I attempted to upgrade my wireless plan to increase the number of minutes. I know for some of you this is no big deal, but I was on a plan which was so old, it was no longer offered by AT&T. I resisted upgrading because it was a really, really cheap plan. During my discussions with the sales rep, I discovered that not only was my calling plan obsolete but that the new plan could not be assigned to my Palm Treo. They offered me some rebates and discounts so I decided to upgrade to the iPhone. This was in mid-May and although I knew that the new iPhone would be coming out in mid-June, I couldn't be without my phone service for that length of time. 

A few weeks later, I was reading the paper and saw an article which said that there was a $100 credit available at the Apple store for people in my situation. The article went on to say that the credit wasn't really valuable because of the price points at the Apple store but I'm a power shopper and I knew I would have no problem spending the credit.

When I got to the store instead of jumping right and asking for my credit, I told the salesperson that I had heard about a credit and asked him to explain my options. That's where the value of listening first rather than speaking first really came home to me. The salesperson explained that one of my options was to receive store credit. Another option was to take $100 off of my bill and a third option, which was the one I chose was to trade-in my phone for the new one for a small restocking fee. The store was very busy at the time that I went in and I have no doubt that had I made the assumption that there was only one option, they would have accommodated me. But because I listened to their position first, I got a much better deal.

Lots of times when we have meetings with our bosses or clients or suppliers, we practice our side of the conversation in advance. We imagine what we're going to say in response to their objections or their requirements. The problem is that we're playing both parts in that internal conversation. In reality, we don't really know what they're going to say. Try listening first, you may be pleasantly surprised.

I volunteer at a non-profit organization. Recently, one of the committees brought a proposal forward which would require a large financial guarantee. There were a number of risks associated with the plan and there were no contingencies identified if one or more of the assumptions proved to be false. I expected the organization to reject the proposal, but to my surprise, it was approved.  This decision put us on a path that would reduce funds that were available for other projects.

The Corner Office blog tackles the question of what to do when your plan isn't working. Their position is that it's usually not the plan itself that's wrong but the planning process. They advise us to ensure that our planning process contains five key ingredients which I'll paraphrase here:

1. A diverse planning team who's not afraid to voice their opinions
2. A clearly defined statement of the problem, the success criteria and the time frame
3. Baseline data and success metrics
4. Periodic review of qualitative and quantitative data
5. A leader who knows how to drive the team to consensus

This is great advice but sometimes a manager/leader becomes aware of a problem in the midst of a situation. After the planning process has been done. We may have inherited it or we may have been part of the planning. In either event, we now must step up and figure out how to change course. The biggest mistake we as leaders can make is to continue on a path which isn't working. Resist the temptation to add more funding or people to a project in hopes of turning it around or not having to admit that the plan was flawed to begin with. This takes courage, especially if you owned the planning process.

At my volunteer organization, we made a decision to go back, re-start the planning process and include those five ingredients that were mentioned above. I believe we will come up with a new plan which will meet our needs. Here's my advice on how to successfully change course:

1. Don't assign blame. There will be plenty of time to review individual and team performance later.
2. Focus on the end result that you are trying to achieve
3. Don't throw out the entire plan. There may be components that will work as is or in a slightly modified format
4. Communicate clearly to your team the business rationale for changing course in a manner that gains their support

Try this approach the next time you're faced with a plan that doesn't work.

I'll be a guest speaker Monday June 15 at noon ET on "The Coach is In" a weekly interview series hosted by Jaynine Howard of Dream Catcher Coaching.

Our topic will be re-inventing yourself. I believe that each of us has a unique combination of talents and personal values and has the right to expect that work will be fulfilling, fun and profitable. You can create a lifestyle that will achieve those goals whether you work in a corporation, are a business owner or freelancer.” I will be sharing some tips and answering questions on how to get started on the path to success.

To catch it live tune in to Coach Jaynine Presents: The Coach is in… on www.Talkshoe.com and participate by chat or call in at 724-444-7444 and enter the Caller ID 31087.  All programs are recorded so that you can download the program for your listening pleasure later at your convenience and add it to your audio library.

Many managers have mixed feelings about hiring in the current business environment. They feel lucky to have new staffing approvals, but pressured to bring in the best person for the job. With so many people looking for work, they're inundated with resumes. Trying to find that magic mix of talent and attitude that will help them reach the organization's goals is a daunting proposition. 

After reading through the resumes and narrowing the  candidate list, it's time for the face to face interviews.The interview process is just as stressful for the hiring manager as it is for the prospective employee. Most companies use some kind of group interview process, having the candidate meet with more than one person to get a range of impressions. I liked to let the candidate speak to one or two of my senior staff. While this wasn't a formal interview it gave the candidate a chance to get the real scoop from someone who was actually doing the job and it gave my employees an opportunity to give me their impressions of whether the candidate would fit in with the team.

I did a lot of hiring and college recruiting so over time, I developed a set of interview questions that worked very well to help me identify the ideal candidate for my positions. It's much harder when staffing requirements are few and far between so that you don't have the opportunity to develop a standard set of questions. The Tech Republic blog is running a survey right now to pick the most hated interview question of these three:

• What's your biggest weakness?
• Where do you see yourself in three years?
• Why do you think you would be a good fit for our company?

As of the date of this post, the biggest weakness question was running ahead at over 50% of the responses. I don't think either of these questions are bad in themselves but they have been overused. Candidates may hate them, but they expect them and they've learned how to respond such that the hiring manager really doesn't get an answer that gives any insight into the candidate's fit for the job. Instead of asking these questions, come up with ones that are unique to your business and to the open position. You'll get a much more thoughtful response and one that will actually help you make the hiring decision.